40: Mother Nature’s Son
Album: The Beatles
Writer: McCartney
Singer: McCartney
Verdict: A virtual solo by Paul. He sang while playing acoustic and dubbed in the percussion. Mostly lyrically absent, but nobody can do “doo doo wahs” quite like Paul. Definitely a song the guitar guy at the party could do to try to get attention.
55: Eight Days A Week
Album: Beatles For Sale
Writer: Lennon/McCartney
Singer: Lennon
Verdict: Now that I’m to this point in the countdown I think I rated this too high. One of my favorite of the “yeah yeah” hits, but the band didn’t care for the song and never performed it live. I just love John and Paul’s harmony with the “hold me, love me” lines.
60: Back In The U.S.S.R.
Album: The Beatles
Writer: McCartney
Singer: McCartney
Verdict: A nice rocker to begin the white album and I love that Paul wrote this during the height of the fear of communism. I mean, how dare he even consider that Soviets might be human beings. While it’s a parody of “California Girls”, it rises above that.
65: Here Comes The Sun
Album: Abbey Road
Writer: Harrison
Singer: Harrison
Verdict: A solid offering by George; he wrote it after escaping to Eric Clapton’s home to avoid dealing with the band. I enjoy the melody quite a bit and it’s a good spring song. The repetitiveness of the title gets to be a little much, though.
70: Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey
Album: Beatles for Sale
Writer: Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller (and Little Richard?)
Singer: McCartney
Verdict: An amalgamation of two songs, sort of. This is mostly a cover of Little Richard’s version of Kansas City, as he added the whole hey-hey-hey bit. Paul knocks it out of the park. Pretty sure this is the last cover song on the list.
75: Hello, Goodbye
Album: Magical Mystery Tour
Writer: McCartney
Singer: McCartney
Verdict: Hey, a placement of a Beatles song where the critics pretty much agree with me. A mindless pop lyric where Paul had someone just say the opposite of whatever he said and he wrote it down. It’s catchy, and I love the ending with the “Hey yas” and the tambourine.
80: Here, There, and Everywhere
Album: Revolver
Writer: McCartney
Singer: McCartney
Verdict: Man do the critics love this song. It’s one of Paul’s favorite songs. It’s one of John’s favorite songs. Mojo ranked it the 4th best song in the history of ever. I guess I get it. It’s a super sweet song in a similar vein to Something. But the rhythm just throws me at times, and I just think Paul uses the same high notes too often.
85: Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Album: The Beatles
Writer: McCartney
Singer: McCartney
Verdict: John and George detested this song with a passion, and John only was able to get through the session high as a kite. In one on-line poll in 2004 it was voted the worst song of all time. I take polls like that with a grain of salt (I mean really, worse than “Detachable Penis?”), but yeah, most people hate it. I hated it at first, too, especially since my introduction to the song was the evening soap “Life Goes On.” But I kind of like it now. I can’t defend it that much, but John plays a killer piano and I love it at the end when Paul screams the title. If it weren’t for the excessive hand clapping and the other random noises Paul’s hateful bandmates were shouting, I’d probably like it more.
90: The End
Album: Abbey Road
Writer: McCartney
Singer: McCartney
Verdict: A beautiful way to end the Abbey Road medley and a nice song for the group to go out on together. Each player had their own solo, and it was the only time Ringo had a drum solo with the band. I’d rank this higher but I don’t care for the “love you” chant in the middle of the song. But the ending is killer. Paul does his thing with “Oh yeah! All right!” and then sends us home with the touching final bit of wisdom: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”
95: Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Album: The Beatles
Writer: Lennon
Singer: Lennon
Verdict: I’m still not sure why John refers to Yoko as his monkey, unless he’s referring to her singing voice. Either way, the song (especially the ending) is a bit harsh with the percussion and shouting. But I can’t help but sing along to, “Come on take it easy!”
Death By Troggles 
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